Petroleum Upgrading

Based on the results of thorough testing, the Company’s proprietary technology of petroleum upgrading was proven to be capable of breaking down asphaltene agglomerates, improving both the viscosity and API gravity for a prolonged period of time, reducing pumping and atomization costs, facilitating hydrocarbon cracking and increasing the refining yields.

When petroleum is fed into a flow-through, multi-stage, specialized cavitation device with a pump at a proper velocity, advanced hydrodynamic cavitation generates numerous vapor-filled bubbles in the flow. The implosion of the bubbles results in vigorous mixing and creates local pressure and a temperature up to 1,000 atm and 5,000 K, correspondingly. The cavitation heats petroleum, disrupts its matrix and improves API gravity and viscosity by 10-15%. Asphaltene agglomerates and hydrocarbons are broken down, which facilitates their fragmentation into more valuable products. The treatment changes the Bromine number by 6-16% and may generate hydrogen from water, which results in the termination of radical reactions. The typical capacity of CTi’s state-of-the-art hydrodynamic devices and skids, which can be installed in line, is 3,500 barrels per day (bbl/day) and higher. Power consumption is about 650 W per barrel. All of the Company’s devices are compact, durable, turn-key, easy to install and maintain and feature superior performance in: mixing, de-agglomeration, dispersing, emulsification, atomization, desalting, crude oil dewatering, waste water de-oiling and phase-transfer reactions. The cavitation of oil and the FCC feed lowers the cost of pumping and atomization, reduces the amount of steam or low molecular weight atomizing agents and facilitates the cracking of hydrocarbons, which increases the gasoline yield. Refineries and plants dealing with processing petroleum-derived products may experience additional benefits through the implementation of CTi’s devices and technologies.